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Vigil Celebrates 88-Year-Old Woman Attacked in Home Invasion

Dozens flocked to a candlelight vigil filled with songs and prayers Friday, in solidarity with an 88-year-old San Jose woman who was brutalized during a home invasion robbery earlier this week. Rick Boone reports. (Published Friday, Sept. 16, 2016)

Dozens flocked to a candlelight vigil filled with songs and prayers Friday, in solidarity with an 88-year-old San Jose woman who was brutalized during a home invasion robbery earlier this week.

Speaking in front of Flo Douglas' Cragmont Avenue home in the Alum Rock district, her family shared the good news with well-wishers that she had opened her eyes and spoken for the first time since Monday's attack.

An hour before the vigil, a car parked directly across the road from Douglas' house was towed away, and sheriff's deputies went door to door, interviewing neighbors. Deputies declined to comment, saying only that they were following all leads.

Vigil For 88-Year-Old Attacked in Home Invasion

A candlelight vigil is scheduled for Friday to lend support to an 88-year-old San Jose woman clinging to her life after being brutalized during a home invasion robbery earlier this week. Robert Handa reports.

(Published Friday, Sept. 16, 2016)

The elderly woman sustained severe trauma to her head and face on Monday in her home. Although Douglas is still in critical condition, and unlikely to leave hospital anytime soon, her responses Friday gave her family hope.

"My grandmother is a peaceful, loving woman who has lived there since 1964," Jocelyn Wallace Lewis, the victim's granddaughter, said earlier this week.

At the vigil, family members and friends said Douglas, lovingly known as Ms. Flo, changed lives. Having owned Sisters Salon for 40 years, she gave hundreds of young stylists their first break.

Others said Douglas is full of life and appreciated her sense of humor.

"She has a wonderful spirit, a kind heart, and she would do anything for you," Douglas' friend Diane Lowe-Epps said.

On Wednesday night, deputies arrested 19-year-old Zachary Cuen in connection with the home invasion during which he is accused of repeatedly assaulting Douglas. He is expected to be charged on Sept. 19. Efforts to reach him or his attorney have not been successful.

Neighbors told NBC Bay Area that surveillance footage turned over to investigators included what sounded like threatening shouts coming from Douglas' house. However, the sheriff's office declined to comment on whether that led to Cuen's arrest.

Cuen was on probation in connection with a February vehicle theft and hit-and-run. Sources say he also attempted to burglarize an 85-year-old woman, who lives in the same neighborhood as Douglas.